Students from the twin cities on Thursday rallied against the republication of blasphemous material and submitted their resolutions to the United Nations, the OIC and embassy of Denmark. The blasphemous cartoons were first published by Jyllands-Posten in September 2005; approximately two weeks later, nearly 3,500 people demonstrated peacefully in Copenhagen.
Afterwards the Muslim community across the globe took to the streets to rally against Denmark for the publication of blasphemous material. Recently, the Danish media re-published the images, which annoyed the Muslim community once again and augmented protest rallies across the world.
Pakistani authorities asked Internet service-providers to block YouTube website after it ran material insulting to Islam. The ban was lifted after the removal of the material. Scores of students from International Islamic University, Quaid-i-Azam University, Punjab Law College, University of Arid Agriculture, Ripha International University and Federal Urdu University staged a peaceful rally.
They were holding banners and placards inscribed with anti-Denmark slogans calling for an immediate removal and end to the publication of blasphemous material by the international media.
The demonstrators called for ties with Denmark to be severed over the republication of one of several blasphemous cartoons that led to violence in Muslim countries two years ago. The protestors assembled in front of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club's camp office at Melody to stage a demonstration and submit their resolution to the United Nations, the OIC and the Denmark embassy.
Addressing the students, Atiq-ur-Rehman said: "We have submitted a resolution having signatures of as many as 20,000 students asking for an immediate removal and an end to publishing of blasphemous material by the Danish media."
He said: "We will not end our peaceful protests until the removal of blasphemous material from the international media. In this regard, we will stage a demonstration on March 19 in Islamabad." Sufyan Munawar said the publication of the cartoons was an attempt to disrupt world peace and hinder efforts for interfaith harmony. He asked for an immediate removal and an end of such publications in future.